Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Third District Grants Certiorari In Favor Of Comity And Sergei Federov

In Sergei V. Fedorov v. Citizen's State Bank (3D09-2800),  the Third District granted Sergei Federov's petition for certiorari because the "orders below would result in a material injury that cannot be corrected on appeal and that the lower court departed from the essential requirements of law."

Essentially, "Fedorov sought a stay on the ground that Citizens State Bank filed an earlier action in Michigan involving the same parties and substantially the same issues, and the Michigan case will decide all or substantially all of the issues in this action....Fedorov contends that he will be materially or irreparably harmed if he is forced to litigate the same case in two separate states."
It is well settled in Florida that “‘causes of action do not have to be identical’ to require a stay of the second-filed action,” and “[i]t is sufficient that the two actions involve a single set of facts and that resolution of the one case will resolve many of the issues involved in the subsequently filed case.”...A trial court has broad discretion to order or refuse a stay of an action pending before it; nonetheless, it is an abuse of discretion to refuse to stay a subsequently filed state court action in favor of a previously filed action which involves the same parties and the same or substantially similar issues....“This rule is based on principles of comity.

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